Seed Yield Potential of Fodder Oats (Avena sativa L.) to the Date of Sowing and Defoliation Management

Abstract

Optimizing sowing date and assessing defoliation responses are crucial for enhancing the seed yield of fodder oats (Avena sativa L.), particularly in the case of both seed and straw yields. A two-year field study on fodder oats was done at the National Pasture and Fodder Research Program, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal, to determine optimum date of sowing and the effect of defoliation on seed production. In the first experiment, the fodder oats cultivar Netra was sown on six dates (October 1, October 15, November 1, November 15, December 1 and December 15) using recommended agronomical practices. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) The second experiment was done to evaluate seed yield of two defoliation regimes, Zero-cut and One-cut at 45 days after sowing by using four fodder oat cultivars) in RCBD. The results revealed that the date of sowing significantly (p<0.001) influenced growth and seed yield parameters. Accordingly, sowing on November 1 produced the highest (p<0.001) seed yield, associated with superior (p<0.05) tillering, indicating early November as the optimum sowing time for seed production. Defoliation significantly (p<0.05) reduced plant height, number of effective tillers plant^-1 and seed yield across all cultivars.